This is not tournament Daniel-son, this is real!

Hello All,

Below are the annotations of my student/sparring partner Billy Collins' amazing upset victories at the Bolyston Chess Club on June 12th. Sorry for the delay, as I was playing a few tournaments and of course, was busy playing Billy! After defeating an A player in round 1, Billy's next three opponents were all distinguished masters on average 300 points higher than he, and in one case, nearly 500. While Billy likes to remind opponents he is defeating in Harvard Square, "This is not tournament Daniel-Son, this is real!" (a reference to Karate Kid II), these tournament games were even more real, Billy!

-IM Marc Esserman

1) Collins,Billy (2044) - Cherniack,Alex (2301) [C15](2)
[Marc Esserman]

1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.Nc3 Bb4 4.Qg4!?

A rare variation of the winawer, which first came into the limelight when Alekhine won quickly against Euwe in their 1935 World Championship match. White avoids the normal e5 c5 a3 Bxc3 bc3 c5 Winawer, and instead plans to wreck the black kingside immediately, but at the cost of a few queen moves. Never move your queen out early, they say!:)
4...Nf6 5.Qxg7 Rg8 6.Qh6 Rg6 7.Qe3 Diagram

Black has more development and white's queen is akwardly placed, but black's chief concern is that he cannot castle.
7...dxe4 [7...Nxe4 8.Bd3 With complications, as seen in Alekhine-Euwe.; 7...c5 perhaps the most logical continuation, in true French style.]

8.Nge2 b6 9.Bd2 Black's plan is too slow. White already threatens to win a pawn with Nxe4. Only a few moves ago it seemed that Billy was way behind in development, but after castles long--almost all of his pieces will be out.

9...Bxc3 Alex saves the e4 pawn for now, but at the price of giving up his Winawer bishop.

10.Nxc3 Bb7 11.0-0-0 Nbd7 [11...Nc6 Seeking more activity. After the text move black will have a hard time drumming up real counterplay.]

12.h3 [12.f3! exf3 13.gxf3 Qe7 14.Bd3 Is an alternative, with a clear advantage for white.]

12...Qe7 13.Rg1 0-0-0 14.g4 e5 15.Bg2 exd4 16.Qxd4 Nc5 17.Qe3

Diagram Alex has done well to counter Billy's playable but slower plan of h3/rg1/g4/bg2 (which solved the problem of the g2 pawn, but at the cost of considerable time. The queen at e3 is still not ideally placed, but the e4 pawn is a prime target.

17...Nd5 18.Nxd5 Bxd5 19.b3 Nd3+?! Diagram

When quieter defense was necessary, Alex instead goes for the immediate knockout--a combination he surely envisioned before his 17th move. The problem is that a sacrifice is not really a sacrifice unless it must be accepted, and here taking the knight leads immediately to mate, whereas its decline leads black completely uncoordinated and on the full retreat.

20.Kb1+/- [20.cxd3? Qa3+ 21.Kb1 Bxb3! 22.axb3 Qxb3+ 23.Ka1 Qa3+ 24.Kb1 Rd5! 25.Rc1 Rb5+ 26.Kc2 Qb3# ]

20...Nb4 21.Bxb4 Qxb4 22.Rd4 Qc5 23.Bxe4 Diagram

Billy's plan succeeds, the epawn finally goes.

23...Bxe4 24.Rxd8+ Kxd8 25.Qxe4 Qxf2 26.Rd1+ Rd6 27.Rxd6+ cxd6 28.Qa8+ Ke7 29.Qxa7+ Ke6 Diagram Black must now struggle for a draw a pawn down in a difficult queen ending. An active king, normally a good thing in the endgame, is here a target to multiple checks by the white queen. White's fast b and a pawn's will be very difficult to stop.

30.Qc7 Qf1+ 31.Kb2 Qxh3 32.a4 Qxg4?? Diagram

A blunder stemming from an attempt to restore the material balance. A hard defense was ahead nonetheless.

33.Qc8+ 1-0

...............................

(2) vigorito (2532) - collins (2044) [A40]

[Marc Esserman]

Billy had ascended one cliff, but the mountain kept getting higher, this time in the form of IM +2500 David Vigorito, and with the black pieces to boot. So many times when a player achieves a great upset in sports, he has no energy left for the next, often higher obstacle in his path. Billy would try to avoid this pitfall.

1.d4 Nf6 2.c4 e6 3.Nc3 c5 4. d5 exd5 5. cxd5 d6 Diagram

The famous Benoni, whose Hebrew translation literally means, "Son of sorrow." However, it is the favorite son of many Bolyston Chess Club experts and masters, despite Kasparov's warning that it has been refuted. Unlike the more stable Queen's Gambit declined, it is a declaration of all-out war.

6.Nf3 g6 7.Nd2 Diagram

When Nimzovitch first invented this "undeveloping" move, many were puzzled. Now the commonplace maneuver is known to all masters--the knight journeys to c4, hoping to bring the d6 pawn to tears.

7...Bg7 8.e4 0-0 9.Be2 a6 10.a4 Securing the beast's formidable outpost. 10...b6?! Diagram

too slow for a benoni---Nbd7 and Re8 is preferred, if Nc4 then perhaps Nb6

11.0-0 Nbd7 12.Nc4 Ne8 The d6 pawn begins to shed a tear.

13.f4 Diagram

White's position grows overwhelming. Billy senses this danger and felt the need to mix it up with his far more experienced and solid opponent. In the post game, Billy claimed with fervor: "The Benoni, these are my kind of positions!" As you will see, while white has the edge, he will be posed plenty of problems on the road to realizing his advantage.

13...f5 14.exf5 gxf5 15.Bd3 Rb8 16.Qc2 Bd4+ 17.Kh1 Qf6! Diagram

Connecting logically to Bd4+, which at first seemed like a stray move. The queen serves many purposes here, working on the long diagonal, ready to attack the kingside, and of course, wiping up the tears of the d6 pawn.

18.Ne3 Ng7 Billy's eccentric scheme of development is beginning to take shape--the weaknesses at f5 and d6 are in good hands.

19.Ne2 Diagram

19...Bxe3?! [19...b5! 20.axb5 axb5 Is far stronger, as if 21.Nxd4 cxd4 22.Nd1 Qf7 Black will win the key d5 pawn--although the outcome is still in doubt.]

20.Bxe3 b5 21.axb5 axb5 22.Nc3 c4 23.Be2 Re8 24.Bf2 Qg6 25.Ra5 Diagram

Billy's posit ion has far too many defects now and at this point Vigorito is winning.

25...b4 26.Nb5 Re4 27.Bxc4 Rxf4 Diagram

28.Bg3 [28.Ba7! And Billy would have to resign, as both rooks are hanging and 28...Rxf1+ 29.Bxf1 Ra8 or 30.Qc6! (30.Nc7 wins the lonesome rook.) ]

28...Rg4 29.Bxd6 the d6 pawn has shed its last tear. White is still winning.

29...Nb6 30.Bb3 Rb7 31.Bc7 Bd7 Diagram

Here white can win beautifully with 32.d6+

[32.Qc6! Bxc6 33.dxc6+ Kh8 34.cxb7 and the queen reappears!]

32...Ne6 33.Qf2? Diagram

[33.Re1+-]

33...Nc4! Billy is back on the path, as white's pieces have become loose and misplaced.

34.Ra8+ Kg7 35.Na7 Nxc7 36.dxc7 Rxc7 37.h3 Re4 38.Bc2 Ne3? Diagram

[38...Re5 would be calmer, as white has few threats with his two pieces on a7 and a8 missing in action.]

39.Bxe4 Nxf1 40.Qxf1 Diagram

[40.Bd5! with the threat of rg8 would leave white back on top. 40...Ng3+ 41.Kh2 Nf1+ 42.Kg1] 40...Qg5 White is a piece up, but the rook and knight are tied to each other, the bishop may hang in the near future, and most importantly, rc1 threatens to win the queen! [Billy avoids falling off the cliff with 40...fxe4 41.Qf8#]

41.Qf3 Rc1+ 42.Kh2 fxe4 Diagram

43.Qxe4 [43.Qf8+ Would have secured the draw, but white was still playing to win. 43...Kg6 44.Qg8+ Kh6 45.Qf8+ Kg6 (45...Qg7 46.Qd6+; 45...Kh5 46.Qf7+ Kh6=) 46.Qg8+=]

43...Qf6 44.Qe3 Qd6+ 45.Qg3+ Qxg3+ 46.Kxg3 Diagram

Again, white is a pawn up, but he must be worse, as he is virtually a piece down.

46...Rc2 47.Rd8 Rc7 48.Ra8 b3 49.Kf4 Diagram

Rc2 [49...Kf6 is best, keeping the king at bay.]

50. Rd8

[50. Rb8! with the idea of Rb7, would have amazingly freed the white pieces and simultaneously frozen black's! A mirror image! ... Rxb2 51. Rb7 Diagram ]

50...Ba4! 51. Rd4 Be8! Diagram

White is now in serious trouble, but a final blunder in time pressure ends the battle.

52.Nc8?? Rxc8 53.Rb4 Bf7 54.g4 Rc2 55.Kg5 h6+ 56.Kh4 Rxb2 57.Kg3 Rc2 58.Kf3 b2 0-1

................................


(3) collins (2044) - chase (2378)

[Marc Esserman]

With the valley in sight, there was one only one more cliff to scale, current Bolyston Champion Chris Chase.
1.e4 g6 2.d4 Bg7 3.Nf3 d6 4.h3 Diagram




Chase is an expert in these theoriless, amorphous, "modern defense" positions. The goal is to simply outplay the opponent from a slightly worse start.

4...a6 5.c4 e5?! 6.dxe5 dxe5 7.Qxd8+ Kxd8 Diagram



Sometimes these queenless middlegames are acceptable for black, sometimes they are not. Here white has a clear advantage. When I saw this position I felt confident that Billy would complete the miraculous 4-0 feat.

8.Nc3 Nc6 9.Be3 h6 10.0-0-0+ Bd7 11.c5 Kc8 12.Bc4 f5 13.Kb1 Nf6 14.Nh4 f4 15.Bc1 g5 16.Nf5 Bf8 Diagram

But how quickly things can change--Chase is now clearly in command. The c5 pawn is lost. White's only trump is the awkward position of the black king.

17.h4 I would have preferred 17...g4 [17...Nxe4! 18.Nxe4 Bxf5 When it becomes clear that white needs to save himself.

19.Bd3! gxh4 20.Nd6+ cxd6 21.Bxf5+ Kc7 22.cxd6+ Bxd6 23.Rxh4 And white is fighting for a draw.] 18.f3 Bxc5 19.Nd5 Nxd5 20.Rxd5 Bf8 Diagram



[20...gxf3! presents another obstacle, as Rxc5? 21.Rxc5? leaves white's chances in doubt after 21...fxg2 22.Rg1 f3 23.Be3 b6 24.Rd5 Be6!] 21.Rdd1?! [21.fxg4!+/- Both players thought this move was impossible due to the impending be6, 21...Be6 but 22.Rxe5! Bxc4 (22...Nxe5 23.Bxe6+ Kb8 24.Bxf4 Diagram



And white is dominating the board with a pawn for the exchange plus considerable activity.) 23.Re8+ Nd8 24.Rd1+- With catastrophic material loss] 21...g3 22.h5 Diagram



the start of an amazing final coup--the h1 rook will travel first to h4--then to g4--and then.... 22...b5 23.Bf7 black's king is still chained to the bishop 23...Nd8 24.Bb3 c6 25.Rh4 Kc7 26.Rg4 Ne6 27.Bd2 a5 28.Bc3 Diagram




[28.Bxe6!+- even more effective, preventing the defensive in the game.] 28...Nd4 29.Bxd4 exd4 30.Rxd4 a4 31.Bf7 Diagram




31...Bc5?! [31...Rd8! After some nervous play the advantage slips back to black--but why?

32.Rxf4 Bc5! 33.Rd1 Bxf5 34.Rxd8 Rxd8 35.Rxf5 Be3! Diagram

and amazingly the g pawn cannot be stopped--a very difficult idea to find under pressure.] 32.Rd1 a3 33.b3?! [33.Rg7! The rook has been screaming to go to g7 ever since h4-h5!] 33...Raf8? [33...Bxf5! black's last chance to free himself, a chance that if taken that would have won! 34.exf5 Rad8 35.Rxd8 (35.Rc1 Be3 36.Rc2 Rd1+) 35...Rxd8 36.Kc2 Be3 and the gpawn again runs to the goal line.] 34.Rg7! Diagram



Finally the rook realizes its full potential! 34...Kc8 35.Bg6 Rd8 36.Nd6+

And black's flag fell in a lost position. 36...Bxd6 37.Rxd6 Rhg8 38.Rgxd7 Rxd7 39.Bf5 Rgd8 40.Rxh6 Diagram

would win in a rook ending. The end of an amazing journey for USCF expert, and I predict soon to be master, Billy Collins. His performance rating during the tournament of 2932 is fitting for a hero. 1-0

Legends: Martin From

On Sat. July 17, 23 players competed in the Martin Severin From instantiation of the Boylston Legends series.

Denys Shmelov won the Open section (n=13) with 3.5. Benedict Smail, Jake Garbarino, and Mika Brattain tied for second with 3.0 scores.
.

Tony Cortizas Jr ran the table in the U1800 Section (n=10) with a perfect 4.0 victory, raising his rating by 123 points in one event. Brian Perez-Daple and Alex Z. Hu shared second with 3.0.
_________________________________________________

Martin Severin From

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Martin Severin Janus From (8 April 1828 – 6 May 1895) was a Danish chess master.^[1]

Born in Nakskov, he received his first education at the grammar school of Nykjöbing. During Prussian-Danish War (Zweiter Schleswig-Holsteinischer Krieg), he entered the army as a volunteer, served in the brigade of Major-General Olaf Rye, and was present at the Battle of Fredericia on July 6, 1849. At the end of the war he settled at Copenhagen. He was employed in the Statistical Bureau, where met Magnus Oscar Möllerström (then the strongest chess player of Copenhagen). Next, he worked in the central office for prison management, In 1890, he became an inspector of the penitentiary of Christianshavn. In 1891 he received the order Ridder af Danneborg, which is the second most important Danish order.

He won a chess tournament at Copenhagen 1862, followed by M.O. Møllerstrøm, S.A. Sørensen, H.A. Lindehn, A. Mathiassen, etc. Since 1865, he was a President of Copenhagen Chess Club for many years. He tied for 12-13th in the Paris 1867 chess tournament, won by Ignatz von Kolisch.^[2]

He essayed the Danish Gambit (1.e4 e5 2.d4 exd4 3.c3) at Paris 1867, and he is usually given credit for the opening. His name is attached to the From Gambit in the Bird's Opening (1.f4 e5).

__________________________________________________

A well played endgame.

In recent posts we have had mentions of the donut hole, end games, and George Steinbrenner, so it is interesting to note:

George Steinbrenner came to his end in the estate tax donut hole of 2010 -

in 2009 the estate tax was 45% and

in 2011 it will be 55%,

but this year it is 0%,

saving his heirs about 1/2 billion dollars in taxes.

His final move

2010. George h8 / $500, 000.

was well timed.

......................

NYT July 15, 2010
...George Steinbrenner left the world stage with a great sense of timing, too.

By dying in 2010, the billionaire and long-time New York Yankees owner’s wealth avoids the federal estate tax, which could save his heirs enough money to field an entire team of Alex Rodriguezes, The Associated Press reported.

Mr. Steinbrenner’s death of a heart attack at the age of 80 on Tuesday came during an unplanned yearlong gap in the estate tax, the first since it was enacted in 1916. Political wrangling has stalemated efforts in Congress to replace the tax that expired in 2009.

That deprives the government of billions of dollars in annual revenue, but represents an unexpected bonanza for those who inherit wealth.

”If you’re super-wealthy, it’s a good year to die,” Jack Nuckolls, a lawyer and estate planner with the accounting firm BDO Seidman, told the news service. ”It really is.”

Forbes magazine has estimated Mr. Steinbrenner’s estate at $1.1 billion. The federal estate tax in 2009 was 45 percent, with the $3.5 million per-person exemption. If he had died last year, his estate could have faced federal taxes of almost $500 million, depending on how the estate was structured. The estate tax for 2011 is scheduled to be 55%.

Chess: Unfortunately Life doesn't imitate Art and Sports

Notes from Nantasket beach part Deux

Got a new water resistant Sony radio and am listening to WBUR.

It’s no surprise that this news cycle is filled more with the passing of George Steinbrenner than the successes dealing with fixing the BP oil spill after 88 days.

Steinbrenner, known for reestablishing the Evil Empire NY Yankees, and creating the multimedia infrastructure to generate so much cash as to overwhelm all the rest of baseball, and Hoover most top free agents most of the time. Although I had a love-hate relationship with Steinbrenner as a sportsman I sympathized with him being shaken down by former President Richard Nixon and forced to participate in Democrats for Nixon illegally donating funds on Nixon’s behalf, lest the IRS be sicked on his shipbuilding business.

I’m reading Triumph and Tragedy in Mudville by famous Harvard paleontologist Stephan Jay Gould. Yankee fan by birth; being trapped in Boston; learned to love the Tragi-Greek Red Sox epic to defeat the Curse of the Bambino. A must read for fans who are into baseball , biology, statistics, Yankees and/or Red Sox.

This book of essays resonates the high promotion of baseball as it transcends age, personal and national heartbreak, the drudgeries of daily life. Recently we witnessed the whole world stop to watch the Spain win the World Cup. Many dedicate every possible free moment to play and study the game of chess.

At the end of the day what practical goal has been achieved by playing these games? As Stephan Jay Gould would say: “Nothing can explain the meaning and excitement of all this to nonfans. No sensible person would even try. This is church-and nonbelievers cannot know the spirit. One can only recall Louis Armstrong’s famous statement about the nature of jazz: ‘Man, if you gotta ask, you’ll never know.’”

Contrast this perfection to a US Federal court judge that stops the US executive branch’s ability to put a six month moratorium stopping oil drilling; a situation caused mostly because the former Minerals Management Service granted waivers allowing no Environmental Impact Studies to be performed to assess risk on the 33 future wells scheduled to be drilled. Who is in charge here?

The Intelligent Seagull scoffed ½ of my sub sandwich that was secreted deep in my bag when I went to cool myself off in the water.

Breathe…………….. Breathe………….

Listen to the surf, soak up the rays………...

No problem man – I’m in Paradise.

What is the importance in playing games in this difficult reality?

Please comment.

Thank You

Mike Griffin

(graphics by Bob Oresick)

7/13/2010

http://www.boston.com/sports/columnists/pierce/

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/environment/jan-june10/oil_06-22.html

Magnus Carlsen debuterer som modell

Sjakkgeniet Magnus Carlsen (19) debuterer som klesmodell for merket G-star sammen med Hollywood-skuespiller Liv Tyler.

http://www.nrksport.no/sjakk/1.7200856?index=false#image-gallery-content

http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/world-no-1-and-fashion-model/

Chess: The Board is the Heart of Chess

It's a perfect summer day and I'm in one of the most beautiful places in the world on days like today: Nantasket Beach. I reach for my trusty beach companion for 15 plus years a Sony water resistant AM/FM radio only to realize it has died. No WBUR today.

No worries man - I'm in Paradise.

My chess coach IM Marc Esserman wants me to work at solving problems and combinations so I'll just reach back in my bag and pull out Forcing Chess Moves by Charles Hertan and work thru them. OOOp's somehow I forgot to pack the book.

No worries man - I'm in Paradise.

I sit back and soak in warm sun, the blue waters, the infinite blue sky, the cooling breezes, the surf pounding on the beach.

Breathing......... Breathing……………

I start thinking about the chess problems I solved yesterday and inventory the un-intuitive properties realized with each solution to which comes an epiphany:

the characteristics of the board are as equally important as the characteristics of the pieces. That those 64 squares may first appear static but in fact are the obverse of the pieces and the squares are bent and contorted by the pieces. Spend some time to inventory the properties of where the pieces aren’t.

So the board is a volcano at the center whose eruption might send a tsunami onto h7. The board can be as mysterious, insurmountable, and elusive as Tora Bora. Or the board is calm as a glass like ocean, enshrouded in a foggy rhine, having a pawn secretly steeling to metamorphosis. We should ask what are the squares like in this situation? What is it doing or not doing to my pieces?

Suddenly I am awakened out of my meditations: A very intelligent seagull is trying to advance on my rewrapped half-eaten sub sandwich. Even Paradise has its snakes.

No worries man I'm in Paradise.

Mr Philidor you got it half right.

What are your feelings of the influence of the board in positions and do you have any examples?

Please Comment

Thank You

Mike Griffin

07/06/2010

Nice job with rating data, USCF!

I don't know how long this option has been around, but USCF now has a "Show Game Statistics" link under:

Players & Ratings > Player/Rating Lookup (look yourself or anyone else up)

I'm glad to see expanded use of their database. It's nice to see I have kept a clean score since 1991 against players rated in the 1300's and below. I wish I could say I have kept a clean score against players higher rated than that, but I am pretty certain some of our club's 1400's are among those who took points and half-points from me.

Ouch, and I can see I start hitting the wall against players rated in the 1800's and higher.

One of the options is to see your top 25 opponents (greatest # of games played against). I see I'm currently even with Jon Lee over 16 games, and also even with Mike Griffin over 5. I no longer have to do the stats work myself (well, okay, I never really did that work, but I enjoy seeing the stats).

Nice job, USCF!

64 Squares of Pain

It does feel like that sometimes. Ah, how bittersweet our game can be.


After my recent Art, Science, or Sport? blog entry, John from Endgame Clothing offered the above fine T-shirt for my collection, and I, having a very memorable bishop vs knight endgame, was pleased to accept.

Of course, as a card-carrying Member Of The Human Race, I appreciate free T-shirts (and as a materialistic chess player, I also accept "reasonably-priced" pawn and piece sacrifices). The ornately designed shirt is made of my favorite 100% cotton, and some of the company's other designs have been making the rounds recently.

2010 Samford Fellow GM Robert Hess is wearing one of Endgame Clothing's T-shirts on the cover of the June 2010 Chess Life, and the Karpov for FIDE president 2010 Fundraiser T-shirts were also designed by John's company. By association, my rating should soon be skyrocketing.

I see on the inside back cover of the July 2010 Chess Life that USCF Sales is also now carrying Endgame t-shirts. Anyway, here is my most memorable bishop vs knight endgame...

Ken Ho - John Muth
21 February 1994
U.S. Amateur Team East, round 6

Our 4-person team had won on one board, but had losing positions on two others. I needed to win this endgame to tie the match ("Captain's orders" ;-) ).

Being down a pawn, I thought I was worse, but now I think the endgame is actually equal. Perhaps having the extra pawn proved to be a psychological burden for my opponent, who pursued a win to his detriment, when a draw was the logical result.

After 29...Bxe4

30 Nc5 Bb1 31 Nxe6 31 Nxa6? Bxa2 32 Nxb4 Bxb3 gives Black the kingside majority and all the chances, though White may be able to draw. After the text, Black still has difficulty keeping his queenside pawns.

31...Bxa2 32 Nc5 a5

Black should consider 32...Kf7 33 Nxa6 (Given the possibility that Black can actually lose his way and worsen his position, White may actually have little motivation to play this capture immediately. 33 Kf2 Ke7 34 Ke3 Kd5 35 Nxa6 Bxb3 36 Nxb4 is a drawn ending.) Bxb3 34 Nxb4, when a draw remains the most likely outcome.

33 Kf2


33...a4? Black's queenside pawns are not going anywhere, but White's soon-to-be-new a-pawn is. 33...Bxb3?? loses, since the knight can easily stop Black's a- and b-pawns until White's king comes to vacuum them up: 34 Nxb3 a4 35 Nc5 +-.

I've looked at a couple of lines like 33...Kf7 34 Ke3 Ke7 35 Kd3 Kd6 36 Ne4+ Kc6 37 Kc2 a4 38 bxa4 f5 39 Nf6 Kb6 40 Nxh7 Ka5 41 h4 Kxa4 42 Kb2 Bf7 43 Nf8,

(Analysis position after 43 Nf8)

and I think that the position remains a draw, no matter what fantastical lines are explored.

34 bxa4 b3? This leads to a clearly worse position for Black. 34...Bd5 at least ensures the bishop has access to both wings.

35 Nd3 Bb1? Jettisoning the pawn with 35...b2, but allowing the bishop freedom, appears to be the best chance for a draw for Black.


36 Ke3! Preventing Black's bishop from getting out along the b1-h7 diagonal. 36...Bxd3 37 Kxd3 is an easy win for White, since the Black b-pawn falls, leaving White with the outside passed a-pawn, which is already "outside the square" of the Black king (i.e., cannot be prevented from promoting by the Black king).

36...Kf7? Jettisoning the pawn with 36...b2 still looks like the best chance to draw, but I think Black is likely lost. White should be able to force a position where Black's bishop is chased away from the immediate vicinity of the a8 square, and the White knight can then obstruct or smother the bishop, allowing the pawn to promote. A sample line is 36...b2 37 Kd4 (7/8/10: Oops, 37 Kd4?? Bxd3 -+. Well, I'm going to ignore that, because the original flawed analysis still leads to interesting analysis positions. 37 Nxb2 may still lead to a win for White, on the basis of the considerations already noted.) Ba2 38 Nxb2 Be6 39 Nc4 Bc8 40 Kc5 Ba6 41 Nd6 Kf8 42 Kb6 Bd3 43 a5 Ke7

(Analysis position after 43...Ke7)

44 Nb5 g5 45 fxg5 fxg5 46 a6 Be4 47 Kc7 (Keeping the Black king at bay so the White knight can do its stuff.) Ba8 48 Nd6 Ke6 49 Nb7 Kd5 50 Kb8 Kc6 51 Kxa8 Kb6 52 a7 Kc7 53 Nd6

(Analysis position after 53 Nd6)

Unfortunately for Black, played by my hapless PDA chess program for this analysis line, the old box-in-the-enemy-king-in-front-of-his-own-pawn trick does not work when the opposing side has enough material to produce a pawn promotion on the other wing.

Interestingly, if all the kingside pawns are removed:

(Conceptual analysis position after 53 Nd6)

White wins from the above position because it is Black to move, so that whatever Black plays, White responds with 54 Kb8 and 55 a8=Q (or 55 a8=R ;-) ).

However, if it were White to move in the above position, it is a draw because White cannot prevent the Black king from shuttling between c7 and c8. Because each knight move brings it to a square of the opposite color, it will never be able to alter the "polarity" of the situation to bring about a situation in which it controls c8 at a time when the Black king has to move away from c7. Fascinating stuff (to me, anyway), but back to the game....

37 a5 f5 38 a6 Ba2


39 Kd4! Holding d5 (and c4), so Black's bishop will not be allowed to prevent the pawn from queening, even if he jettisons the pawn with 39...b2.

39...Bb1 40 a7 Bxd3 41 a8=Q b2 42 Qb7+ Kf6 43 Kxd3 1-0

That's the kind of endgame for which this T-shirt was made!

Time-twistingly ironically, my opponent was the J. Muth who created another one of my favorite T-shirts (or so I have long believed, anyway), as I'd written about earlier.

---

Of course, before the endgame, the gods have placed the middle game. Those who have observed my amazing middle game blunders know that I have rather less of a predilection for the middle game than I have for the endgame.

In his "Memoir of Capablanca" which was included in Harry Golombek's Capablanca's 100 Best Games of Chess, J. du Mont wrote:

He made innumerable friends by his kindly and genuine manner. I remember his winning a brilliant game from Dr. Vidmar in London, 1922, and laughingly patting the loser on the back, saying: "He always give[sic] me a chance of a brilliancy; he is my meat'" -- this accompanied by such a charming and good-natured smile that everyone, including Dr. Vidmar, had the impression that he had bestowed the finest compliment on his opponent. Who else could make such a remark to his adversary and convey the feeling of the utmost friendliness?

If I ever come to the board and find my opponent wearing a T-shirt showing a chuckling Capablanca with the caption, "You are my middle game meat.", I may have to run screaming from the tournament hall.

GM Ken Rogoff on his chess career

In a fascinating article about GM Kenneth Rogoff's timely book on economic crises, he commented on his chess career. (Rogoff used to play at the Boylston.)

They Did Their Homework (800 Years of It)

By CATHERINE RAMPELL

Published: July 2, 2010 in the New York Times

Carmen Reinhart and Kenneth Rogoff's handiwork is contained in their recent best seller, “This Time Is Different,” a quantitative reconstruction of hundreds of historical episodes in which perfectly smart people made perfectly disastrous decisions. It is a panoramic opus, both geographically and temporally, covering crises from 66 countries over the last 800 years.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/04/business/economy/04econ.html

Photo: Mary F. Calvert for The New York Times

about chess:

"...He received a chess set for his 13th birthday, and he quickly discovered that he was something of a prodigy, a fact he decided to hide so he wouldn’t get beaten up in the lunchroom.

“I think chess may be a relatively cool thing for kids to do now, on par with soccer or other sports,” he says. “It really wasn’t then.”

Soon, he began traveling alone to competitions around the United States, paying his way with his prize winnings. He earned the rank of American “master” by the age of 14, was a New York State Open champion and soon became a “senior master,” the highest national title.

When he was 16, he left home against his parents’ wishes to become a professional chess player in Europe. He enrolled fleetingly in high schools in London and Sarajevo, Yugoslavia, but rarely attended. “I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to be doing,” he recalls.

He spent the next 18 months or so wandering to competitions around Europe, supporting himself with winnings and by participating in exhibitions in which he played dozens of opponents simultaneously, sometimes while wearing a blindfold.

Occasionally, he slept in five-star hotels, but other nights, when his prize winnings thinned, he crashed in grimy train stations. He had few friends, and spent most of his time alone, studying chess and analyzing previous games. Clean-cut and favoring a coat and tie these days, he described himself as a ragged “hippie” during his time in Europe. He also found life in Eastern Europe friendly but strained, he says, throttled by black markets, scarcity and unmet government promises.

After much hand-wringing, he decided to return to the United States to attend Yale, ...

He interrupted a brief stint in a graduate program in economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to prepare for the world chess championships, which were held only every three years.

After becoming an “international grandmaster,” the highest title awarded in chess, when he was 25, he decided to quit chess entirely and to return to M.I.T. He did so because he had snared the grandmaster title and because he realized that he would probably never be ranked No. 1.

He says it took him a long time to get over the game, and the euphoric, almost omnipotent highs of his past victories.

“To this day I get letters, maybe every two years, from top players asking me: ‘How do I quit? I want to quit like you did, and I can’t figure out how to do it,’ ” he says. “I tell them that it’s hard to go from being at the top of a field, because you really feel that way when you’re playing chess and winning, to being at the bottom — and they need to prepare themselves for that.”

a funny chess comercial

Paypal DONATE button!

Dear chess community:

I just want to highlight a new feature of our Blog-- a Paypal DONATE button, located to the right of the page.

Please consider making a tax-free contribution to the Boylston Chess Foundation. With the donate button, it is now easier than ever!

Best,

Jason
Interim BCF President

SOS Do you have a Robotic Chess Set and live near Boston!

Chess Comrades:

There is going to be a Discovery Science Channel Series - Physics of the Impossible show hosted by Michio Kaku in need of a Robot themed Chess Set. If you possess one and would like to see it in a TV show please contact us.

Especially if you posses this Lego MindStorms set:

http://gambit.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/06/16/a-chess-lego-engineering-feat/

Thank You

Mike Griffin

07/01/2010

Chess: The BCF Donut Hole

My wife and one of her friends (who is on Medicare) have a very expensive migraine headache medicine that costs $1000 for 6 pills. People on Medicare who have exceeded their $2,800 initial coverage have to pay out of pocket for drugs until the next level of coverage kicks in: they are said to be in the donut hole. My wife's friend hits the donut hole in record time.

In June my rating was 1815 making me ineligible for the 2010 Weaver Adams. But by July my published rating will be 1793 thus placing me in the BCF Championship Qualifying Series Donut Hole technically making me ineligible for the Rubens Landy. Fortunately with intelligent flexibility RL directors Bob Oresick and Bernado Iglesias, with the support of President Jason Rihel, have made an allowance in letting me register for the RL.

The Board is working on reworking the entry requirements for the whole championship series in the fall to be ready for next year. Tradition has the final stage of the Club Championship to be a round robin of 11 of the top masters plus the winner of the Rubens Landy. But the BCF suffers with the pretty cool problem that we now have more than 11 masters thus another potential donut hole situation.

And not only is there a BCF Donut Hole but there is a Donut Munchkin: What happens if someone has a rating below 1800 in June above 1800 in July? They can play in the Weaver Adam's and Rubens Landey.

But we shouldn't become too upset by these things. Always remember the ancient Chinese saying attributed to Homer Simpson's ancestor by Bob:

"Don't curse the hole -- eat the donut."

What are your feelings about this Donut Hole/Munchkin?

Please Comment

Thank You

Mike Griffin (with contributions from Bob Oresick)

06/30/2010